It is well known in chemical literature and from actual operating conditions that inorganic minerals, such as oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and bicarbonates are commonly used as reactants/catalysts in gas-scrubber systems for the chemical conversion or scrubbing of toxic compounds, such as hydrogen fluoride, fluorine, arsine, phosphine, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, amine, nitric oxide, chlorine dioxide, interhalogens, hydrogen chloride, and other acid compounds; and that once they are reacted with an inorganic mineral oxide, such as aluminum oxide, calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, chromium oxide, ferric oxide, phosphoric acid, calcium sulphate, magnesium oxide, and carbon, the converted and reacted form is a non-hazardous inert solid compound.
There are several prior art methods and various types of scrubbing apparatus which convert trace quantities of toxic gases into inert solids. But all of these methods and corresponding scrubbing equipment do not satisfactorily resolve the problem of very low conversion efficiencies caused by the low reaction rate using the inorganic scrubbant compounds or the problem of non-uniform or inadequate heat distribution during the chemical reaction of scrubbants and toxic pollutants within the gas-scrubber apparatus.
The prior art patents disclose various types of apparatus for gas scrubbing, but the major drawback is that there are too many inter-related components to properly perform the process functions on a routine basis, and the methods have very limited applications. The apparatus and methods disclosed for conversion of toxic gases to inert solids have come under scrutiny as to whether they are safety devices for environmentally controlling the toxic pollutants going into the atmosphere.
None of the prior art patents disclose a scrubbing apparatus having the capability of scrubbing a wide range of toxic chemical pollutants, or having an adsorption/absorption capacity and chemical reaction rate that provide an extremely high conversion efficiency, in the order of 99.999%. The prior art systems do not provide satisfactory alternatives in meeting federal and state standards for emission control where the safety control device functions 100% of the time to remove toxic gas pollutants from the gas carrier stream. The prior art does not disclose gas-scrubbing systems having the ability to scrub high volumes of contaminated air efficiently over an extended period of time at an economical cost.